


The Two Way Puppet String

by BalrogDeMorgoth



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Being Nice, Cute, Developing Relationship, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kindness, Manipulation, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Incest, Sibling Love, Zucest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24257071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BalrogDeMorgoth/pseuds/BalrogDeMorgoth
Summary: Azula discovers a new manipulation technique (known to the rest of the world as 'being nice'), while coaxing a depressed Zuko into playing with her after their mother left.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 174
Kudos: 332





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the long awaited (by no one) first chapter of my fanfic, hope you all like it and i want to thanks PurplePlatypusBear21 and TheDevian (who also served as an editor for this fic) for encouraging me to write.

It was a nice day in the fire nation. The sun was shining, the breeze was pleasing and the guards were running around screaming about a white cat. As far as Azula was concerned that meant the world knew what was good for itself and was following her orders well enough, now if only the inhabitants of said world could get with the program! That would be nice but judging by her brother's adorable scowl, being 'nice' wasn't in his plan ...for now.

Confident as she was about getting her way in the end, Zuko was proving to be particularly uncooperative today, which shouldn't come as a surprise given he had been increasingly so since their 'dear' mother's departure. All the threats and taunts she had thrown at him had only made him dig his heels in the ground even more, and she was starting run out of both, not that she was going to try the same thing over and over when it had proven ineffective, that's what an _earthbender_ would do and they were hiding behind their wall for a reason.

Though it was not as if she could just walk away from him either, even if she might be able to get Zuko to sullenly follow her that way, as he did not have much choice in term of company since Mother left, it would look too much as if she was giving up and Zuko was doing _her_ a favor, like she had evaded the problem, just like a useless _airbender_ would do, and she did _not_ want to end up like them, they were ...well let's just say that at least earthbenders were still a _thing_.

This left her in a bit of a bind, carrying the superiority of fire over those inferior elements could be truly limiting sometime.

'What a baby!' Azula never had any trouble keeping him in line when Mother was still around but she goes away and Zuzu immediately starts forgetting who's in charge! He wasn't even against her idea, he just wanted to stomp his feet and throw a fit.

Azula suddenly started to realize that her mother was coming up in her thoughts a lot more than she wanted, and while her first instinct had been to crush that train of thought before it went any further, she stopped herself as a peculiar notion crept into her head.

After all, Zuko never did that kind of thing when Mother was around, even when he had clearly wanted to, he always held himself back? Could Mother hold the key to making Zuko fall in line? It might be worth thinking about, Father's teachings _did_ fail her in this particular case and Mother had to have at least _some_ trick up her sleeves for Azulon to accept her as his son's bride, as she had proven that fateful night.

So now the question was:'What could be the key?'

'What did Mother do or say to Zuko that succeeded where Father's effort failed? Zuko always obeyed Father when he was around but that went right out the window whenever Father left the room, while even gone and never returning, their Mother kept her hold on Zuko and his every action, so it's clearly different from what Father did"

And so Azula did something she really, really did her best to avoid most of the time, she thought about all those times she saw Zuko and Mother, by themselves, happy and laughing, without a care in the world, without _her_ and rather than dismiss them as fast she could, she started paying attention to what they were actually doing, what Mother said and did, and how the her memory of Zuko reacted to every word and gesture.

Saying Azula wasn't impressed would be a massive understatement, but her conclusion was undeniable: Mere nice words and comforting gestures from their Mother had more sway on Zuko than even the most complex trick and power play taught by her father.

That was a rather hard pill to swallow, especially given how said lessons by Father were given only to her and tended to be rather tiring, even for a child prodigy like Azula, but Father certainly hadn't taught her to hide her head in the sand and play pretend just because of something as trivial as her prized lessons to become a proper member of the royal family being outdone by something a mere turtleduck could emulate well enough, at least she could console herself with the fact her brother seemed to be an outlier when it came to that.

And so, she simply accepted that _this_ , whatever you would call it, might be her best bet to get what she wanted.

She steeled herself before focusing back on Zuko, whose cute little scowl now had a touch of worry and confusion in it.

'I might have thought about my next step a bit too long...' Azula suddenly felt her face heating up a bit. '...but that might be for the best, I assume that Mother's method is probably easier to use if he isn't too riled up anyway.'

Taking a calming breath, Azula took a few steps toward her brother, not stopping until she stood right in front him before gently placing her hand on his arm and looking up directly into his eyes with the most innocent and accepting face she could make.

"Listen, Zuko, I know you miss Mother, and I understand, it's completely normal..." That was obviously a lie, the royal family was above such things. "...it doesn't make you weak..." That was another lie, he was weak and feeling like that made him even weaker. "...and you've got nothing to be ashamed of." That one was a BIG lie, perhaps the biggest of them all. Father would never tolerate him being that pitiful in front of him."...To be honest, I feel the same, I miss Mother a lot too..." Going by the tightness in her chest as she said that, Azula might have to admit some lies were too big even for her to tell. "...but moping around won't help, that's not what Mother would have wanted. We both know she would have wanted us happy and getting along, so how about we just go have fun now?" Azula finished by taking her hand off his arm and presenting her hand for him to take.

Zuko's face cycled through different emotions as Azula went, surprised and doubtful at first, then sad and disbelieving, a mixture of shock was next, followed by empathy and understanding before finally settling on a fragile and honest smile of sadness with some hope mixed in. He didn't even hesitate before taking the offered hand and getting dragged away to whatever game Azula wanted to play. ...He was truly a fool and that soothing ache in her chest was definitely just the satisfaction of getting her way as usual.

(X)

Zuko was no fool, no matter how much he might feel otherwise when dealing Azula, when he messed up during practice, or when Father gave him that 'you not only failed my test, you didn't even realize there was one' look, or when...fine, he often felt like a fool, but he really wasn't one, okay?

So as a proud non-fool, he was pretty sure that Azula hadn't exactly been sincere during her latest (successful) attempt at getting her way. It might have been how her 'innocent' face looked like it was saying 'dare question my intentions at your own risk', or how her 'gentle touch' felt asmechanical and fake as one of those noblessmiles...or perhaps it was how she had passed the last hour throwing death threats his way and two hours before that taunting him?

All of that before suddenly freezing and just straight up staring at him for five minutes, followed by a blush he would never admit to finding cute, and Azula suddenly telling him everything he ever wanted to hear since Mother left, it was safe to say that he had more than a few doubts. Which might make you question why exactly was he currently letting the little sister who's sincerity he'd just put into question and who blatantly tried to manipulate him emotionally, lead him by the hand to a game he didn't even remember the name of if he wasn't a fool amongst fools? Well, if you find the answer, you might want to share it with Zuko, because he was wondering that very same thing.

'She probably only did all that to test some new idea she had about getting her way but ...does it really matter?' Zuko continue to ponder this as they ran, and despite his best attempts to keep up, he was practically getting dragged by his sister! 'It doesn't really change that it was pretty nice. Azula hadn't looked me in the eyes since she started her special training, it "wasn't necessary for the crown prince" according to Mother (according to Father, I wasn't worthy of them) and yeah, she hurt me a bit when she took my hand but it's been a while since anyone did that...'

Zuko pointedly left out how that 'while' could also be called 'since Mother left', after all, Father was never the most physical person even when their family was at it's happiest, Azula usually kept a security distance from him as did he, and the servants wouldn't ever dream to look a member of the royal family in the eyes, let alone have any kind of physical contact, so now that their Mother was gone,basically no one was willing to even touch him ...Except Azula apparently now, even if only get him to play her game.

'I mean, if she's nice, why would I want to stop her? It might not be sincere, but it's not like a nice Azula isn't good by itself.' Zuko considered his options as he replayed the scene from barely a second ago in his mind, with a particular focus on Azula's face as she said she missed Mother, an expression so honest, he doubted Azula even knew it had happened.'We might even be able to go back to how it was before, when we were still a family.'

But in the end, Zuko had to admit that beyond all questioning and justification, what truly cemented his decision to give Azula what she wanted was the face she made as he tentatively took her hand. His hope still fragile and drowned in the hurt of their Mother's departure, it was that face which turned that fragile contact into a grip that held even as Azula ran as fast as she could. It was the face of a little sister he hadn't even really known and could barely remember, the face of a little sister his Mother had once told him his little two (and a half!) years old self swore to protect, long before he'd learned that there were things he just couldn't stand up to, let alone protect her from, said things included Azula herself ironically enough. The face of a little sister he didn't really mind being nice to, the face of a little sister he could maybe actually protect even if she could protect herself probably better than he could, the face of a little sister he didn't mind playing with.

And so Zuko kept his grip on her hand, did his best to keep up with Azula and let himself be dragged to her game.

'Because, if I do, I might see more of _that_ Azula.' Ignoring the pain in his wrist and pushing his legs just a bit more, Zuko made his decision. '...and that might just be worth it.'

(X)

"This is so going to be worth it!" Azula thought to herself as she finally started slowing down, her little arm already thanking her for not having to drag her dead weight of a brother anymore. Though given his puzzled look, Azula might have actually voiced her thoughts without noticing, which might be a problem going forward if it became a habit.

"So? You're ready?" Azula gestured toward the old goat they called an instructor, she only had to deal with him when Father wasn't handling her training personally, and the Twins, Li and Lo, were too busy to take over the task, but that was already too much in her mind.

"Uh, Ready for what again?" Of course that would be Zuzu's answer as he nursed his wrist, the baby. "I kinda forgot what you wanted after the first hour."

It was unusual for Zuko to actually admit to something that made him look like the fool he was, he even looked a bit guilty about it for once, and his admission probably had nothing to do with using it as an opportunity to remind her of her own faux-pas....Obviously not, since she had nothing to be ashamed of, if anything, the hours she had taken to enlighten her foolish sibling were something she should be lauded for and the heat creeping up her face was just his stupidity taking its toll on her.

"Urgh! So much for it being worth it." Azula muttered to herself, shaking her head and missing the somewhat dismayed look on Zuko's face. "Okay, so little reminder, we're playing 'burn the old goat', a game invented by me, and therefore one you should be honored to play.The goal is to trip the mummy you call an instructor, and burn his ridiculous beard before running away, understood?"

While she didn't think Zuko would immediately jump with joy, even if she thought he should have, she certainly didn't expect him to look a bit worried and ...was that a bit of fear? Zuzu was truly pathetic, not only caring about such rabble but being afraid of them too, he'd probably mop the floor with the elderly instructor in an agni kai. Zuko might have been a bad fire bender, pathetic even really, but he was _Royal Family_ bad, which was still light years beyond that jumped up drill instructor turned babysitter for the rich.

"Lala, I don't think it's a good idea, the instructor was chosen by Father!" Zuko was clearly forgetting his place, she did not treat him like a foolone time and he's already using the pet name she hasn't allowed since she was five. "...and we need to respect our tutors, we can't learn if we question their ...authority?"

Well, at least he had the decency to look unsure about those stupid tutors having authority over either of them.

"Listen, Zuzu, I’m only going to say this once: Father doesn't tolerate fools, no matter _who_ made them into fools, if we mess with those idiots, they're the one who get punished." Azula, clearly losing her temper a bit at the idea that any of them could actually order her around! "...and they do not have authority over me, they do not teach me, I merely accept their counsel, they have dirt in their veins and I have the blood of the greatest lineage in all the nations! I have the authority, they don't.....and I guess it goes for you too...somewhat...maybe. Anyway let's burn his stupid beard and send him to one of the colonies."

Zuko seemed nonplused by her near tantrum and instead turned his attention toward the old man, she could almost hear the gears turning in his head before he narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"Okay, let's do it, but I don't see why you needed me for that game, seems like something you can do alone." Zuko was clearly asking more out of curiosity than out of some desire to back out.

"Who said I needed you?" Azula immediately snapped back at him, more out of reflex than anything, and the look that almost immediately appeared on Zuko's face was one she couldn't really identify but it really didn't look amusing like his usual frustrated reaction, and she really wasn't in the mood to decipher the whole new boring face Zuzu made up. Especially not with that weird sensation in her stomach at least, so she decided she might as well just play her newest card again. "I just wanted to play with you, dum-dum, and I’m sure you've got more than enough reason to enjoy this game."

She might have left out a few things, like Zuko still being much bigger than her, an advantage she always did her best to make him forget, which is surprisingly useful when tripping up someone.

And just like that, his new look was gone and Zuzu started looking ...touched? There was also the same glint she saw in his eyes whenever he thought he was close to getting back at her,though she assumed it was directed at the old goat this time. This might warrant some digging around next time she is bored, shecould not have some no-name tutor tarnishing their name by making their weak link look even more pathetic.

"You trip him, and then I burn his beard."Azula took Zuko's silence as a go-ahead. "After that, we run away and see if we can burn his eyebrows, double the points if we get both in one go!"

Zuko simply nodded at that, and the game was on. Their dear tutor sure didn't see it coming, one second he was walking with his hand behind his back, the next he was on the ground and Azula was already setting his beard on fire.

Obviously, as a firebender decent enough for their father to let in the palace, he managed to put out the fire, but not before it was too late for his beard. It took a few seconds for the old man to realize what had just happened, which just made him even more useless in Azula's book, if they were assassins, he'd be dead already, killed by a 9 year old girl and her dummy big brother, which was already too good for him she guessed.

But once he came to his sense, the game was truly on! He immediately started running after them and did his best to repay the insult.Obviously, it was a piece of cake to for Azula to stay comfortably outside his reach but Zuzu was truly surprising her this time, he was closer to his grip than Azula but always managed to weave and dodge just enough at the right timing to leave their nominal tutor grasping at the air.

He was no Ty Lee, obviously, but he had his own way of moving that was no less impressive. It seems she did not give enough credit to his training under that non-bender Piandao, he even gave her a clear shot to his hair with his acrobatics.

After five minutes and a dozens more trip to the ground for their tutor, he only had half his hair and one eyebrow remaining, even his Fu Manchu fell prey to Zuzu moments ago and all he could do about it was run after them while gasping for breath. Such low stamina wouldn't fly with their father at all, Azula was sure of that.

It was time for the game to end and for them to tally their points, they just needed to deal with the worn out toy that was still wheezing behind them as they made their way back into the palace and that's when she had an idea. A quick glance toward Zuko told her that he was thinking the same thing. It seems that he had more of Father in him than she thought. It was time to remind that peasant who truly had the authority in this palace.

As one, they suddenly stopped running right as they reached the open door leading back to the palace and turned back to their soon-to-be former tutor, who had almost fallen over again while trying to halt his momentum, he seemed surprised for a second before anger erupted again on his face.

He had started to step toward them, probably thinking that they had a given up and was ready to lecture them before making up some kind of punishment...that was before he noticed the almost identical haughty and neutral expression on their faces, he seemed particularly shocked by Zuzu for some reason.

"We're bored now, you're dismissed and can go back to your usual duties." Azula used her 'perfect princess' voice while pretending to examine her nails.

"I'm not so sure about that, Azula, do we really need such a weakling working at the palace?" Zuko's voice was an almost perfect imitation of the Dragon Emperor's, and the glint in his eyes was eerily similar to Father. At least if being a Prince didn't work out for him, he could have a decent career as an actor.

Azula seemed to ponder Zuko's question as if the decision hadn't been made before either of them had even spoken.

"No ...I do not think that we do, Zuzu, thought it might be rather harsh to just throw him out..." She responded to her brother while not paying any attention to the tutor who quickly went from confused, to outraged, to terrified, and he was suddenly almost as white as his remaining eyebrow. "I'll ask Father to send him to one of the colonies, the streets are warmer there I have heard."

It was an obvious lie, the colonies were usually colder than Caldera but feigning ignorance made it all the more entertaining as the hope on his face quickly collapsed under that same realization.

"Well, I guess that's decided. You can pack your belongings, we no longer have need of your services." Zuko spoke with a tone of finality, the old goat didn't even try to argue with their decision ...at least he was smart enough to learn his lesson quickly.

Their former tutor still seemed to be in shock, he barely managed to numbly bow and spew forth the usual pleasantries before turning around, probably ready to bolt to escape this situation, as if that would change anything.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"Zuko's stern voice rang out, surprising both Azula and the old man "My sister is taking the effort to speak on you behalf,even going the Fire Lord to give you a trip to the colonies, isn't there something you should say?"

Sometimes, Azula forgot Zuzu was her brother and not just some maid's son she had taken in as a playmate. Occasionally, she forgot that for all his failings, he was still the closest thing to an equal she had, and then Zuko did or said something that reminded her clearly of the blood they shared. It was times like this, where he made an old man bow and scrap before her for a few minutes, she is sending him to an underdeveloped mud hole of acolony and her Zuzu made him thank her for it, this was just perfect!

After the old man finished his pathetic attempts at gratitude and left, Zuko and Azula waited until he was well out of earshot, keeping the same unwavering noble expressions on their faces before suddenly collapsing into a fit of laughter.

"The idiot thanked me, you made him thank me." Azula was unable to control her mirth any longer."We just kicked him out and he thanked us! He looked so dumb trying to be serious with a single eyebrow!"

"And did you see his hair whenever he bowed? Half of it was gone!" Zuko had trouble breathing between his chortles. "You know, sometime, I forget it, but I love you, Lala."

While Zuko said it without thinking and immediately went back to laughing, hearing it gave pause to Azula, it made her _feel_...something. _S_ he wasn't sure she liked it, but didn't really want to push it down either and, well, being _whatever that was_ had worked well enough today, she might as well keep going. Azula thought she remembered one of the maids calling it 'being nice', it certainly was an unusual manipulation tactic, she would have to explore it further.

"Love you too, Zuzu." Azula spoke with a fondness she hadn't really planned, she was really even better at lying than she thought.

Zuko was still busy laughing as she spoke, but quickly stopped after hearing it. He looked unsure, as if he was wondering whether he had just imagined it before settling on a smile that Azula hadn't seen in a long time. It was both fond and knowing, as if what she said was as simple as saying the sky was blue and they had just forgotten, the fool.

"You know?" Zuko put a hand on her shoulder as they walked inside the palace, an annoying reminder of the height difference between them. That said, it was strangely more pleasing than usual "I think you were right, that really was worth it."

"I'm always right Dum-Dum," Azula had a familiar smirk on her lips as she replied."...And you'd do well to remember it ...for your own good."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ozai hears about what his children did and Zuko wants to play with Azula again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter 2, Thanks a lot for all the views, kudos and comment on the first one !
> 
> For the fans of my other story 'The Pai Sho Master', due to popular demand on my tumblr (dragomer) and a few demands in the AO3 comments, it will get a sequel / second chapter.
> 
> Also I made an ATLA discord if any of you are interest : https://discord.gg/XD9PKQj
> 
> Now I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Ozai had been having a relatively tranquil day, not that it was anything close to what one of his subjects would call 'tranquil' but that's why he was on the throne and they were scurrying around in his shadow.

His day had started with a meeting concerning some insignificant part of the Earth Kingdom being late in delivering their 'please, attack elsewhere' fees. Obviously it had nothing to do with those 'deserters' intercepting most of the trade going in or out of that region, which just happened to become a prime strategic position after said 'elsewhere' they had been paid to attack had fallen.

Then he had to deal with the nobles and the merchant, for all of his cunning and scheming, he couldn't escape mundane day to day governance of the fire nation. At least he didn't have to deal with the court, while his father had been delighted to take part in those pitiful squabbles, Ozai saw no use for it and was quick to purge them, leaving only the royal family, the guards and the servants living in the palace.

Obviously, he took care of the aforementioned governance with the same cold efficacy that would have surely inspired many quips about the irony of a fire lord being cold, if he hadn't made clear that there would be no questioning nor derision from anyone as long as he drew breath.

And now he was in his office, finishing up some paperwork was the closest thing to a break he would allow himself before going to another meeting disguised a courtesy with a visiting representative of the colonies, he would not have time to check on Azula's progress, and even less to think about the disappointment that was his son today.

Thoughts of the boy brought up something else that Ozai did not even have the time to ponder, but even the fire lord can slip, even if he'd never admit it and kill anyone who would suggest otherwise, and he ended up thinking of his wife after all.

'Former wife now, I suppose...' Ozai corrected himself, setting down his royal seal in the train of thought persisted. 'As if being shackled to such a soft hearted fool hadn't been annoying enough, now she won't leave my head even after getting rid of her!'

Obviously, the Fire Lord was perfectly aware of why his wife wouldn't leave his mind, especially when he thought of his son, even in passing: for all her weakness, for how pathetic she was, _she_ made him Fire Lord, no one else, not his brother, not the earthbender who crushed his nephew's skull nor even his own father, the man he had spent his life idolizing, the strongest man he knew, that man was dead, killed by the hand of the woman, who had made him Fire Lord, died to a non-bender.

And why, why did she make him Fire Lord? Why did a Non-Bender kill the 'Agni on Earth' with a poison that even his father's inner fire could not consume, a poison that he had not even known existed? Was it because it was part of his plan? No. Was it because he had seduced her into doing it? No. Was it because she wanted power and thought being Fire Lady was better than being the wife of a prince? Once again, no.

She didn't even do it because she thought Ozai deserved it or would be any good as a Fire Lord, if anything she thought the exact opposite of that. So why then did she do it? Because of Zuko, a mere woman who had been brought to the palace as a whim of his father, had killed him over an idle order his father had given on whim after a perceived slight against his favorite son.

She killed Azulon for Zuko, and Ozai just had a lot of trouble coming to terms with that, and despite his best effort, not only to be the best but prove himself to his father, the only reason he was standing here was because of his wife and his failure of a son, he probably wouldn't have taken it as hard if it had been Azula, he could at least lie to himself about it being her scheme and she manipulated her mother, even if he knew Azula was far from that skillful... _yet_.

But no, it had been for Zuko, and Ozai just couldn't understand it, much less accept it. Now, he was no monster, he hadn't liked Azulon's order at all, and would have taken no pleasure in losing his son, much less killing him himself, which is why his father had ordered it, because Zuko had managed to just be pathetic enough to be worth sacrificing, but not pathetic enough to make his death anything but a punishment, while not being bad enough that it would make Ozai rise against his father.

Although, that had also been why he had talked to his wife about it, rather than just bursting into his son's bedroom and getting it over with. Ozai didn't even really know why he had done it. Really, what did he expect her to do? Take Zuko and run while he tried to pretend that he was dead? Azulon would have had them tracked and killed in a heartbeat, Ursa had not lived a day of her life in poverty, let alone trekking through the wilderness with a child in denial like Zuko.

Yes, his father knew exactly what he was doing to him ...which was probably where he had miscalculated, where they had _both_ miscalculated, because Zuko mattered a lot more to Ursa than he did to Ozai, and contrary to popular belief apparently, Ursa herself mattered, as Azulon probably found out while choking on his own tongue after drinking her poison's.

'Wait, was that poison even in liquid form?' Ozai wondered to himself, now vaguely aware that his head was resting in his hands. 'I never asked, did I?'

And for a second, Ozai was not the Fire Lord any longer, he was just a man, with an heavy crown he had not earned, and uncomfortable regalia that had clearly not been prepared for him. He was just a man who could die in a fight, where the firebending skills that he had mastered beyond even what his brother and father had ever been capable, could not help him.

That moment was fleeting however and he shrugged it off, making a mental note to ask the palace scholars about it before ending his introspection on a few quickly dismissed thoughts about how he might be unfairly judging Zuko because of his mother. He had thought that way of the boy before, and the small voice was asking 'why he had saved Zuko from drowning if he had truly always been so disappointed?' ...Whatever it was, it would not change anything, so it was not worth concerning himself.

With his daily angst and stress induced introspection over and done with for his non-break, the Fire Lord was now ready to quickly resume his work.

That was at least, until a quick knock on the door made him realize that he still had his head in his hands. He quickly took a more dignified posture before authorizing whatever servant decided it was wise to disturb him at this time of the day to enter.

So it was with a small amount of surprise that Ozai saw the staff manager of the palace enter his office instead of the foolish servant he had been expecting.

"Your Majesty, I came to inform you that the preparation for auditions to find a new tutor for Prince Zuko and Princess Azula are ready." The staff manager spoke succinctly as he bowed. Ozai honestly had no idea what the old man's name was and while he usually wouldn't care, he had also noticed that everyone always called him 'Staff Manager' despite having been on staff since before Ozai was even born. Was 'staff manager' even a real position? "We are ready to proceed at your leisure."

Ozai didn't even know that they needed a new tutor, but then again, that was what a staff manager was for. Though, well practiced as he was, he did not let his inner turmoil show, he had to maintain an air of omniscience, even in front of a man who probably hired his nurse back when he was a mere baby.

He still asked for a report on the situation. He had a suspicion that the tutor had simply earned Azula's ire, but he wanted to be sure it wasn't a case of the tutor thinking he could quit on his own terms without even informing Ozai. It had never happened before but it was no reason to not be ready for such an scenario.

And thus he learned of Azula and Zuko's little adventure. To say he was surprised was putting it mildly, and his earlier introspection was clearly not helping his current state. He had expected Azula, but Zuko as well? That was new.

Obviously, Ozai knew all about the tutor's behavior toward Zuko, the harsh criticism bordering on insults, the inattentive tutoring and repeated demonstration of proper firebending forms, using his 'authority' over Zuko to make him repeat pointless exercises when the tutor could not be bothered to change his schedule after the boy had mastered a form, and the complaints about having to train him instead of his sister, since she was training with the Fire Lord.

Ozai had almost thrown him in jail for the last one, as it started to skirt the line to questioning his decision, but he had decided against it, mostly to avoid having to meet a new tutor, they all looked alike anyway.

One might wonder why he had authorized such treatment to continue, but the answer was quite simple: If Zuko was too weak to stand up to his tutor, a mere jumped up commoner compared to the Royal Family, then he deserved whatever his tutor was doing. If he was pathetic enough to accept the authority of a tutor over his authority as the Prince of the Fire Nation, then he deserved to be forced to obey, it was that simple in Ozai's mind.

And it was pretty fair too if you asked him, after all, that's the standard he had for everyone, that tutor for example? He had been humiliated by a 9 year old little girl and her weakling big brother, thus he deserved it and Ozai wasn't going to defend him out of some misguided pettiness, simply because he had named him a tutor, just as he had not defended Zuko out of some silly sentimentalism.

So yes, it was a surprise, and a pretty pleasant one for once. It seemed Azula had managed to help make himself useful for a change, and she had even exposed a pretty mean streak in him once he got going, if the report about the tutor's injury was accurate.

Azula was, without a doubt, his well honed instrument, and he'd never let Zuko make her as weak as he was, but if Azula wanted to take the time to make her useless brother into a decent tool, it would only help Ozai reap the benefits in the end.

He decided that it would be best to keep an eye on the situation. If Azula was the leader, it would be one thing, but if Zuko was the leader, he might have to intervene, unless a miracle happened and Zuko somehow could lead Azula without turning her into a weakling, a miracle had already happened with his mother after all.

However, after hearing the end of the report and how Zuko had made the tutor bow and scrape to his sister, Ozai couldn't stop himself from being reminded of his younger self, obviously it was far from a perfect match but he could clearly see the similarities.

This left him with a gnawing doubt, maybe, just _maybe_ he had been reading Zuko wrong this whole time and Azula had somehow seen what he could not, or got him to drop whatever mask he had been wearing in front of Ozai for some reason. ...And Ozai knew exactly what had happened the last time a Fire Lord had read someone wrong.

(X)

Today was one of those rare rainy day in the fire nation, not that it affected Zuko's wandering, the palace was more than big enough for pretty much any game he might want to play, and since the incident with the tutor, he had gotten a bit more confident around the adults in the palace, especially when Azula was around. All they had to do was avoid the rooms their father cared about or used for any reason and they would be fine doing whatever they wanted, and anyone who thought otherwise would not have to be dealt with more than once.

Obviously, the bonus confidence came with a price, namely having to stop Azula from bullying the servants too much, she may have been correct about their authority, but it didn't mean it should be used on a whim to terrorize the palace staff. On top of that, the more time passed, the more Zuko saw it as a perfect reasonable price to pay, especially as she seemed to have redirected her abuse of power toward more deserving targets, probably from being tired of their games being interrupted by the one fight Lala never seemed to take any joy in.

That, or she just made up lies about her new targets, it's not like he really questioned what she told him, and a small voice in his head that sounded like his father called him a fool pretty much every time he made the choice to trust her on these things, but it was scary, and a much louder voice, that sounded a lot nicer, easily drowned it out while calling him a 'good big brother'. It was a familiar voice that he was used to following, so Zuko was pretty confident that he was making the right choice.

Talking about his little sister, who he still could not find after searching for some time, he had recently started being a lot more enthusiastic about their games, and even seeking her out on occasions such as this, rather than his usual routine of standing somewhere alone and dragging his feet more out of principle more than any real desire to avoid playing. He could almost admit that to himself now that his relationship with his sister had improved, and when she inevitably came to enlist him into the latest scheme she called a game, Azula seemed to have started a new routine of her own.

Namely avoiding him and hiding from him until a random time of her choosing where she'd approach and drag him around to play. ...At least that's what she tried to do, Azula might be very good at hiding from his sight but she did not really seem to pay attention to how loud her steps were when she started walking toward him every time, which still left them at a stalemate until she did.

'Maybe it's not as much a new habit as much as it was trying to hold on to her previous one, after all, she always approached me back then too.' Zuko pondered as he continued trying to spot his sister. 'That or I spent too much time with her, and caught whatever makes her over think everything, all the time...'

Well, until his sister was ready to try her luck again, he could not do much and while it could be considered its own game, he didn't like it much. Particularly not now, because there was another part to his newfound enthusiasm, namely, he was worried, and being with Azula tended to bolster him and ease said worry.

Worry about what? Well, it all come down to one thing: Their father, and the fact that they had kind of set the tutor, that _he_ had named, on fire, and while their father's lack of reaction until now and the reinforcement provided by their games lent a lot of credibility to his sister's claim that he wouldn't care and if anything blame the tutor, Zuko was still scared that their father had seen this as a challenge to his authority and had simply been busy by more pressing matter until now.

He was the prince and Azula was the princess, but their father was the firelord and as his tutor often told him when he complained, even a crown prince can't question the Firelord and if a crown prince could not, Zuko wouldn't really bet on a princess getting anymore leeway.

He had started to consider the implications of truly running afoul of his father's wrath and how Azula's involvement could make things worse for him. Knowing her typical schemes, she would either foist all of the blame onto him ...or not, and he was not certain which of those bothered him more. However, before his thoughts could become a much larger headache, he was shocked out of his introspection by the sound of his sister's dainty footsteps, which were quickly approaching. 

His head immediately snapped toward the source of said noise to see his Lala a few feet away from him, clearly torn between giving up and rushing forward in a desperate gambit to be the one to approach him first this time. This gave him ample time to make the choice for her and approach first. It seemed as though he might have caught her over thinking things, she caught his tendency to hesitate, and Zuko was honestly starting to understand how Azula always managed to get the last word in while he did that.

"Hey, Lala," Zuko paused, taking a moment to watch his sister's lips twitch at the nickname. He still could not tell if it was a smile or a grimace that she was holding back with that twitch, but he thought he was getting close. "I wanted us to go play at the pond, but it started raining while I was searching for you, so I guess it's your turn today."

It was a half truth since the first signs of rain were already present when Zuko had started his search, but he mostly wanted to calm his anxiety today and did not really care what game they would play, but it's not like he could just _say_ that, he was already seen as the weak one, the last thing he needed was to give Azula more things to lord over him.

"You've been awfully generous with the turns lately, _Zuzu_ _."_ Azula crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious. That was another thing new about his Lala, whenever he got too nice or nice for too long, she got suspicious. "Spill it, what are you planning? What do you want and how does letting me drag you around fit into getting it?"

Normally, Zuko would have gotten angry and sputtered a few frustrated denials, to which Azula would have responded with a few quips that would only escalate the situation until he stormed off in a huff, leaving Azula to do whatever she did after they had a fight. ...Probably smirking as he left but their 'normal' had a changed just a bit ever since the prince and princess of the fire nation had dismissed their tutor in a rare display of teamwork.

It had changed just enough that Zuko could admit to himself that they were almost getting along lately, sure Lala was still Lala, but her bite was a lot less painful and lot more endearing since she had dialed back the venom in it, and her bouts of kindness and patience often made up the left over venom that slipped in.

And he didn't want that to stop, he wanted it to keep going, he wanted for them to truly get along one day, to be real siblings again, if they had ever been that is, that's what ...that's what Mother would have wanted, and even beyond that, it was what he wanted, so he simply decided to be honest, after all, how could they really get along if he was too scared to tell her that he was still worried about something they had already spoken about?

So he took a deep breath, which made Azula her narrow eyes even further and decided to trust her.

"I don't _want_ anything, okay?" Zuko responded with a sigh. "I'm just worried about Father being angry at us for dismissing the tutor without asking him, and playing with you makes me feel a bit better about it..."

There was a weird mix of emotion on his sister's face after he finished talking, half of it was looking at him like he had told her an obvious lie while the other half looked at him like he had just told her the most obvious thing in the world, she also looked a bit touched and surprised but Zuko wasn't sure about the last two.

"Obviously you are! I'm not even surprised, of course you'd still worry about that kind of nonsense despite my efforts to explain it to you. You wouldn't be _Zuzu_ otherwise." Lala quickly retorted, pinching the bridge of her nose in a way that might become intimidating in a few year but honestly just look adorable when done by his nine year old little sister. "I won't even bother repeating myself about who Father actually blamed for that incident, so I'll just say it clear: Father isn't upset with you, and he is certainly not upset with me, if anything, he's pretty satisfied with you lately."

"Really?" Zuko was clearly too surprised to even be doubtful, he had called Azula a liar in the past but even then he would have had to admit she would not try a lie that big.

"Uhu, really." Azula nodded, almost looking like she was agreeing with herself. "He might even train us both together next time. It's been a while, so you must have done something right, no? With that dealt with, come, we don't have all day."

Lala didn't even wait for his response before turning her back to him and quickly marching toward what Zuko could only guess was their next game.

"Oh, that's nice, I guess?" Zuko responded as he quickly caught up to her. "But what makes you say we're going to train together next time? Did Father tell you anything?"

"I didn't ask him, I didn't really need to." His Lala was nonchalant, almost sounding innocent as she replied. "It was quite obvious that you'd be joining us soon since Father removed your portrait from all the training dummies and targets last time, he only ever removes them when he knows you're going to show up."

"Good, good, that means that-Hey!" Zuko shouted after doing a double take mid sentence only to see his sister was already running away with a challenging smile on face. "Get back here right now, Azula!"

It was the last thing Zuko said before he started running after her and the noise of the rain was quickly replaced by the sound of childish laughter ...and broken furniture ...and panicking servants.


	3. The one where Azula purrs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Azula have a nocturn ordeal and have to go through their Father's training the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 3 and I have not much to say beyond thanks for all the support !
> 
> And you can still find me on Tumblr under the name 'dragomer'.
> 
> Finaly, for those waiting for the sequel to 'The Pai Sho Master', it's coming but I'll only really start working on it once this story has reached chapter 5, so I don't end up getting distracted from either story by the other too much.

It was a stormy night, which only meant one thing for Zuko as he was awoken more by the sound of hurried steps than the loud thunder: He needed to go to Azula's bedroom.

As he groggily got out of bed, the young prince was thankful for his habit of keeping a lit candle as he slept, making it much easier for him to make himself a bit more presentable before sneaking out of his chamber.

 _Sneaking_ might have been a bit of strong word as the guards outside his doors obviously saw him the moment he opened his door, even if they pretended to be busy observing the guards that were usually posted in front of Azula's bedroom flee. Zuko might not be good enough to get out of his own chamber without getting caught yet but he was more than good enough to notice how their eyes quickly shifted from him to their fleeing coworkers.

While the staff in the palace had started showing a bit more respect toward him ever since he had started being a more active player in Lala's reign of terror, his guards had taken the habit of pretending to not notice him whenever he went to see Azula during thunderstorms long before that, so he could not stop himself from seeing it more as pity than anything.

'Well, pity or not, I'd better hurry.' Zuko thought to himself as he stuck to the shadows and started walking toward his sister's chambers.

Their rooms were relatively close to each other, but the palace was so large that being 'relatively close' was still a few minutes worth of walking, a far cry from when his baby sister had been assigned to his room temporarily when she was born, or even from when their rooms were next to each other's.

One might wonder exactly why a thunderstorm would lead Zuko to immediately go see his sister. Well, contrary to what the palace's staff, other than the guards in charge of Azula, thought, it wasn't because he was scared and needed her support.

He might admit that he never really tried to correct the palace's staff on that ...if he were pressed on the matter. While he didn't like the idea of looking that pathetic, he just could never find it in himself to tell anyone the truth. Even if they had believed him, which was unlikely given that Azula would try her best to prevent that from happening, he knew that revealing her secret would hurt his sister a bit more than he would ever want, even when their relationship was at its worst.

Which bring us to the question: Why would he go see her if he was not scared, and what was Azula's secret? Coincidentally, both questions had the same answer: Azula was scared of thunder. She had been ever since she was born, at least that was how Zuko vaguely remembered it, and when Azula got confronted by something she feared and could not intimidate nor make go away, she lashed out.

And ever since she learned fire bending, Azula had a lot more to throw than a tantrum when she lashed out like that. Every night where lightning could be heard, Lala would become increasingly unstable until she started lighting her own room on fire in a rage. Zuko always hoped to arrive before it came to that, but he had failed many times so far and knew deep down that he would open the door to her bedchamber only to see blue fire devouring her curtains and toys.

Said bouts of rage were also why her guards were running past Zuko's room earlier, any guards who intervened or even made Azula think they were aware of her fear would be dealt with in a way that Zuko still found questionable at best, Royal titles or not.

It was also the reason Azula had many fewer actual toys than him. Sure, what she burned would be replaced in the afternoon but they'd just be left to collect dust, used as mere decoration until it was their turn to be set on fire.

So with the guards out of the picture under threats of treason, Father not caring, if he knew at all, and Azula refusing to involve their Mother, it ended up being Zuko's duty to protect the palace and his sister from herself.

It was an arduous task at the best of the times, trying to sooth Azula back to her bed even as she was denying any problem despite jumping in fright and lighting a random object on fire at every lightning strike was not easy, he had enough memories of being burned to prove it. The fact that Azula's blue flames were very hard to put out did not help either.

'This is going to suck.' Zuko predicted, still in the shadows despite the obvious absence of guards as he was approaching Lala's door. 'Maybe she'll be easier to calm now that we're getting along again, I don't really have a choice either way.'

With a deep breath, Zuko collected himself and opened the door. As he expected, he was almost blinded by the blue flames currently destroying yet another pair of curtain. He was too late again and was almost frustrated at how much stronger those flames obviously were compared to last time, Azula was truly growing by leaps and bounds while he felt lost and stagnating but now was not the time for that.

Now normally, Zuko would immediately start trying to put out the fire while talking to distract his sister from her fear while obviously being ready to dodge any attempt at lightning _him_ on fire but today, he felt a slight pang in his heart as he had a passing thought about how scared and frustrated she must be to lose the self control she's usually so proud of. It quickly overtook any thoughts of the damages.

It was not a big difference, but it was enough to make him pause his routine long enough to look for his sister, a quick turn of his head was enough to find her standing in front of her bed, probably the only piece of undamaged furniture in the room.

As a slight sway of her flames illuminated her face, all thoughts were knocked out of Zuko. The next thing he knew, he had cross the room and was hugging her tightly as his Lala froze for a second before starting to bawl in his arms.

The look she had when Zuko saw her ...he had trouble remembering anything that had hurt his heart this much since their Mother's disappearance, but while that still pained him more, this was still a close second. If anything remembering their Mother just made it worst as Zuko realized just how much he had come to depend on his Lala's company during the day to keep the heartache of that disaster away.

Still, it was the first time he had seen her like this and he couldn't understand why, today's thunder was nothing out of the ordinary and it was not as if he would have missed something like that before, even if Azula would have probably tried to hide it.

It was then that he understood, the only reason he saw it today was because he immediately focused on her instead of the fire, she had always managed to get it under control in time before.

Unnoticed by Zuko, the blue flames around the room slowly became mixed with a red and orange color, shrinking and swaying back and forth soothingly as Zuko tenderly ran his hand through his sister's hair to comfort her as he vaguely remembered their mother doing to calm her down.

He certainly hadn't expected that running his hand through Azula's hair, would bring out such comfortable feelings in him, let alone sooth her, but he wasn't complaining as he slowly took his sister back to her bed.

He even got a slight giggle out of her as he managed lift her in his arms before putting her back under her sheets, Zuko made a note to send a gift to Master Piandao as he doubted he would have been able to do so without the old nonbender's exercises and training instruction.

Obviously, he wasn't even surprised when his Lala did not let go, her still frightened face was an unwelcome sight, but still a net improvement over what it had been before, leaving him with no option but to sigh and get in the bed, and watch over her until she fell asleep, the thunderstorm was still going strong after all.

As expected Azula would not make his job any easier, a few lightning strikes later and their legs where tangled up together while Azula had snuggled up to him as much as possible, her breath quickening. And he wouldn't be Zuko if he did not make things harder for himself, so as he ran one hand through her hair, he took one of her hands in his and intertwined their fingers before placing his chin on the crown of her head.

Sure enough, Lala's breath started to slow after a while, it will make leaving without waking her up next to impossible but it was worth it if you asked him, in the meantime he was pretty comfy at least.

A few minutes later and Azula was fast asleep, lulled to sleep by her brother's heartbeat and warmth as he listened to her breathing and being comforted by the perfume of her hair.

'Just going to wait a bit more, just to be sure.' Zuko lied to himself, he was way too comfortable to continue to escape the firm embrace of sleep. 'I'll just make sure she's asleep...before...leaving.'

As he finished his train of thought, the Prince of the Fire Nation fell asleep, protecting the Princess's sleep as the last of the flame he had come to vanquish slowly vanished on it's own with his consciousness.

(X)

Morning came and with it a heavy knock on the door, and unfortunately for himself and whoever was behind the door, a half asleep Zuko, who was woken up by said knock, simply could not stop himself.

"You can enter." Zuko spoke reflexively, something he immediately regretted as he remembered the situation he was in.

As the door immediately started to open, Zuko was simply bemoaning his luck that whoever was entering did not have enough of a survival instinct to know they should not have listened to him. Well, with a little luck, Zuko could use them as a shield to escape at least.

Said person revealed themself to be a simple guard Zuko did not really recognize, which probably explained their foolishness since the guards who were used to being around the Fire Siblings knew better than enter Azula's room the day after a thunderstorm.

The guard immediately froze at the sight and he could swear he heard her swoon a little before getting a hold of herself, though Zuko felt the guard was not really looking at him anymore.

"Princess, The Firelord, your Father sent a message for you ...and your brother." The guard declared, in a professional tone. "He's going to personally train you in the absence of your tutor, and he wishes to see you both before breakfast to prepare for the training."

While Zuko was confused as to why the guard was addressing his still sleeping sister at first , he quickly noticed where said guard was looking, and sure enough, he could immediately see his sister's face, their legs still tangled together and their fingers still intertwined, even her breathing had not changed.

But one thing made clear that she was not asleep any longer: She had one eye open, looking directly at the guard and oh boy, if looks could kill, this poor guard would be dead twice over. It was quite formidable of his sister to pull off the most murderous glare he could imagine with only one eye.

Still, while he was tempted to let his Lala do her thing and get rid of an embarrassing witness, Zuko decided to save this poor guard, and probably her whole family, from his sister's wrath. It was quite easy as he simply had to move his hand slightly, and Azula's hair came tumbling down to cover her open eye.

The whole adventure yesterday must have earned him a lot more leeway than he thought, as she not only did not kill him for this stunt, but he also got another giggle out of her. It seemed as if he was on a roll lately, this was more giggling than he had gotten out of her even as a baby.

His joy was short lived as he found himself pushed out of the bed as soon as the giggle stopped. Oh well, at least the guard had been smart enough to recognize his sacrifice and run for her life.

"See? I told you, Father is going to train you." Azula's voice was haughty as she started preparing herself while Zuko was busy trying to get up and wake himself up fully. "I hope you will take this lesson to heart, about who is better to listen to, me or your dum-dum brain!"

Zuko froze a bit at those words, which almost caused him to fall again, he had not even paid attention to that part, he was a bit too focused on Lala and saving that guard but it was true, Father was going to train him again and he could only thank Azula for that. Still, they were siblings and he was the older brother, if she thought she could get him to admit defeat just by being right, she must have forgotten the last nine years of her life.

"Sure, you can count on me to remember that." Zuko began, clearly surprising his sister with that and the smile on her face almost made it hard to finish his sentence. ...Almost. "Just like you can count on me to remember that you purred when I brushed your hair."

The effect was immediate, she turned red and was instantly stomping in front of him, which was just cute at this point, especially since she seemed to have forgotten that she was much smaller than him in her embarrassment, forcing him to look down on her in the literal sense of the word.

"I do not 'purr'!" Azula roared, stomping her small feet, in an attempt to be intimidating. "Never did, never will!"

"Yes, you do! I heard it!' Zuko shot back, clearly amused at having the upper hand for once. "You purred, and we both know it!"

"I don't!"

"You so do."

"I so don't!"

"Prove it then!"

"How do you want me to prove that exactly, Dum-Dum?" questioned his Lala, clearly confused "I bet you don't even have an idea."

"I do totally do!" Zuko responded, completely taken aback. He hesitated for a few moments before noticing his sister's disheveled hair. "How about I brush your hair this morning? It should be enough to see if you purr or not."

It was quite obvious to Zuko that Azula had started weighting the pro and the cons of his challenge before he had even finished talking, not that it mattered to him, the result would be the same either way.

"Fine, it's good enough." Azula concluded, turning to take a seat in front of her slightly burned Vanity, quickly pointing Zuko toward her hairbrush. "Don't start crying when you're proven wrong."

Zuko did not feel the need to respond to this and instead got to work. He was far from an expert at it, but he had observed his Mother brush Azula's hair enough times to know the basics at least.

As he was doing his part, he found himself marveling a bit at his sister's hair, their Mother had always been praised at the court for her beautiful hair, even by Grandfather Azulon, who was famously not fond of such superficial things. It looked obvious to Zuko that Azula's hair was just as nice; after all, Mother herself had praised her hair more than once.

He had almost started wondering about how it was easier to think about Mother without feeling bad lately when Azula finally could not hold herself back any longer, and let a small purr escape her thin lips.

His sister immediately turned red and hid her face in her hands but Zuko was satisfied enough to not rub it in and just finished brushing her hair silence.

When he was done, Azula got up with a small nod of acknowledgement and did her best to act like nothing had happened at all, which must have been a real struggle given the smug smile that remained on his face.

"So, Zuko, not that I don't appreciate not having to call servant to prepare me for the day." Lala's voice took on a lazy air. "...But you might want to go back to your room and get ready yourself, I doubt Father would appreciate you showing up in your night clothes."

It was Zuko's turn to feel embarrassed and it was with a quick 'Thanks for the reminder' that he rushed back to his room, completely missing the fond smile his sister had let appear on her face as soon as she was sure he couldn't see it.

(X)

Thankfully, he hadn't been late and Lala had even waited for him in front of his room. The meeting with their Father had been quick, he just quickly told them he would train them both personally for now and how it would affect their usual schedule ...it was not much of a change.

Really, the most remarkable thing about the meeting was their Father's surprise at seeing them both arrive at the same time and he seemed to pick up on something about the guards as his eyes kept going from the guards to them but it did not seem to be something negative, just their Father trying to puzzle something out before metaphorically shrugging and dismissing them.

It was not in Zuko's nature to analyze people like that, but he never could stop himself when it came to his father and passing time with Azula only made it worst.

The meeting had ended a few hours ago and it was almost time for the training to actually start. He had been with Azula the whole time but under her advice, they had not played any games as Father's training would probably be extra tiring compared to what they were accustomed, if only to test him and compare his results to Azula's.

Being so forthright with information was rare of Lala, well not really, she often told him a lot of things he did not know, but she mostly just made him angry while doing it, she rarely did say anything in a way that helped him, except today apparently.

It was not the only change today, while their 'security distance' toward each other had steadily diminished with time since they took care of the old goat, today Azula acted as if it had never been a thing to begin with.

He wasn't about to complain about it, far from it, but he would really like for all these giggling servants to develop a survival instinct, because constantly having to distract Azula from them whenever they crossed her line from 'non existent' to 'knows too much', was a bit stressful even if it was fun.

At least it would not be a problem as they were now nearing the training ground reserved for them and their Father, even if it had been mostly Azula's lately and Uncle was still technically allowed to use it.

To their surprise, their Father was already there when they arrived, and Zuko thought he saw him quickly rip a piece of paper off of one of the training dummies before he turned toward them.

It was such an unexpected turn of events that not only Azula but also the Firelord looked lost for a second, but he had probably imagined it in the case of their Father since he quickly cleared his throat and started explaining the training planning.

Azula still looked completely lost though.

The training session went surprisingly well, and for once, fire bending next to Azula was a fun game instead of a bitter lesson in humility, which in and of itself just reinforced his usual failure as humility was _not_ something that mattered for a crown prince, at least not outside of a discussion with the Firelord.

Sure, every exercise was exceptionally long compared to what his tutors usually put him through, but he didn't find it all that straining really, it was enough to show him the wisdom in Azula's decision to not play before training.

And for once, Father did not look disappointed or dismissive, he did not look at all happy either, but it was still progress no matter how he looked at it, at least he seemed as if he was mulling something over as Zuko and Azula played at stealing each other's fire in a soft spar to cool off a bit.

"Enough! Get into position!" Ozai suddenly spoke while walking toward them. "This will be the last exercise for the day, the guideline is simple: demonstrate your progress since last time and impress me."

Zuko did not like what he was hearing, while it probably did not mean much to Azula since the 'last time' for her was quite recent, so she did not have much progress to demonstrate in order to be considered 'satisfactory', but his 'last time' was months ago at best, and he really was not sure he could demonstrate what his father would expect out of months of progress.

"Zuko, you are the eldest, so you will be going first." Ozai was dismissive, not paying much attention to his firstborn's clear concern. "Do not disappoint me."

The Prince was left gulping before walking toward the middle of the training ground. Deep down, he knew the thing his father wanted to his see, he wanted to see the form that he had tried and failed in front of the previous Firelord Azulon.

In truth, the form was much beyond his age according to his tutors, but that is exactly why he wanted to learn it and tried to show it off. He had only made himself look foolish back then, but he kept practicing it, and could almost pull it off now.

But Zuko knew 'close' would not satisfy his Father, either he did it or ...he did not actually know would happen but he did not want to fail anyway and so he had to try.

So he did try, and it even started out well, the punches and kicks went well, he even managed the jumping part fine, but as he always does, he made a mistake... He looked to his father, only to see absolutely nothing, he was doing his best and his Father did not have the slightest reaction to it.

The only reason he did not just let himself give up right then and there was the impressed look on his sister's face, a look he had not seen since she could barely speak, and he showed her his first flame.

But in the end, it simply was not enough, the small mistake he made turned into two mistakes, which turned into four and a few moves later, his unsteady form crumble at the worst time, he knew his position had been too wobbly to do that jumping kick but he tried anyway and as always, he failed.

Zuko saw himself fall before his feet had even left the ground and fall he did, his hopes crushed as his back was about to touch the ground.

Right as he was about to just give up, he heard a voice coming from where his family was observing him...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula had a weird day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the conclusion of our cliffhanger, I hope you all like it and don't hesitate to give me your opinions by leaving a comment, positive or negative ^^

Azula had been having a weird day, said weirdness began the very moment she was awoken by her dum-dum giving permission to some idiot knocking at her bedchamber door. She had not been surprised at how unusually welcome Zuzu's presence had been, not after what they went through during the night, even if she pointedly avoided remembering any of it save for the very comforting feeling that came to her whenever she thought about it.

What had surprised her was her own reaction, she was just too comfortable, Zuko's heartbeat was just too soothing to listen to, even as it's rhythms had been disturbed by the unwanted intruder, which was a crime unto itself according to her morning self. The princess knew this intruder would bring an end to her comfort and so she did the only thing she could think of, she opened an eye and tried to light what she vaguely recognized as a guard on fire with her mind.

After all, if that undesired spontaneously combusted, Zuzu would have no choice but to stay where he was and she would get to feel whatever this strange emotion was a bit longer. Sadly her plan had failed and the guard had even twisted the knife by addressing her directly, making Zuko notice she was awake, ruining the moment completely since he'd never stay now.

And that was when the weirdest part happened, just as she was about to switch to a more direct means to light this traitorous guard who had dared to go against her wishes, on fire, Zuzu dared to mess with her hair leaving her with her face covered in hair, and instead of being rightfully angry, she could not stop herself from being amused, a giggle even managed to escape her lips.

That had been just enough to let the traitor escape, but Azula could not bring herself to care as she pushed her brother off the bed. Amused or not, a challenge could not go unanswered, and seeing as how her groggy brother did not seem to want to continue their spat as he tried to get up, you could say that her response to his assault on her person had been adequate enough to count as her victory. The last thing she needed was Zuko questioning the hierarchy in the palace right as she was finally finding a use for him.

Once out of bed, they fell back on their usual bickering with a side dish of more weirdness when Zuko not only pulled off one of his very rare wins, but also because she did not feel like any of it was an attack like normal. She knew that she was partly to blame, as she had chosen a very foolish fight without realizing that she did, in fact 'purr'. Azula just could not muster her usual defensiveness and spite that such a tiff usually involved, and instead found herself just appreciating the feeling of Zuzu brushing her hair. Even the embarrassment she felt hearing herself purr was balanced by seeing what she was sure Zuko thought was a smug smile on his face that she found ...amusing.

That was probably why she could not stop herself from smiling as he left her room, the lingering feeling of him holding her hand as he lulled her to sleep still present as she did so.

The next bout of weirdness happened while they were waiting on their father's training after his meeting, not only were the servants unusually noisy and annoying, but Zuzu was also strangely playful so it kind of canceled itself out ...or so she felt at the time. Her own 'weirdness' as they waited might have also been partly to blame. Her and Zuko had always kept some distance between them when physical contact was not required, a clear consequence of their old lessons on security and being careful of being too close in case of potential assassins as members of the royal family, and a clear acknowledgement of their opposition to each other in Azula's mind, after all, only one of them could be the favorite.

However today, she could not bring herself to care, being close to Zuko was making her feel ...something, she didn't know what or why, but she knew she wanted more, and between being careful and getting what she wanted, Azula easily made her choice and clung to Zuko all day ...as was her right anyway.

Sometimes she thought that her brother might have copied her new manipulation technique and was using it on her, but it was really hard to justify as A: He was Zuzu and B: His face still lit up as he jumped for attention like a well trained Eel-Hound whenever she used it. Surely if he was aware of it enough to turn it against her, he would know enough to ignore it.

And then came time for their training to start, and if Azula had to be honest, she would admit that she was not all that happy about it despite her usual disposition toward training. She had been kind of freaked out to see their Father ripping off a piece of paper from one of the training dummies when they arrived, she thought it might have been Zuko's picture for a second but it was silly, she just meant it as a joke to tease her brother a bit, their Father could not really be doing that ...could he?

Thankfully, that incident notwithstanding, training with Zuko had turned out to be a lot more fun than she remembered, and while she could not quite get the same feeling as that morning, the feeling of stealing each other's fire was very satisfying in its own way.

Sadly, it had to come to an end when their father declared it was time to demonstrate their progress and judging by the look on Zuko's face, he was perfectly aware of what that meant. Thankfully, Father did not seem to hold that look against him, in fact, Father was particularly expressionless today, so maybe he would be fine.

At first she had hope after seeing his first few moves, watching Zuko manage such difficult maneuvers after seeing him fail and stumble so many times in the past ...on those occasions when she could be bothered to check on the flailing he called fire bending, it really had an hypnotic quality to it that fascinated Azula for a moment.

But then he looked at them, Agni knows why, and while he only seemed to get fired up while looking at her, when his eyes went to Father, something happened. She did not know what, but she could already tell that he was doomed as usual. She was right, even as if she would rather have been wrong for a change, that just drove her Father's point home that nothing would go her way if she did not make it go her way, maybe that was even the whole point of bringing Zuko here today.

One mistake created two other mistakes which created four and she could see him falling before his feet had even left the ground.

That brought her back to the present with Azula left in a position that she never thought could even exist. For the first time in her life, Zuko's failure would not be her success, it would not bring her any benefit, and if anything ...it would be more of a hindrance.

If Zuko failed now, especially in such a fashion, she could say good bye to their fun training sessions and would have to deal with weeks, if not months, of him moping around, not to mention Father drastically reducing the time she would be allowed to 'waste' with her brother. Azula really could not see an upside to this particular failure, which really felt wrong to her. Everything she knew was telling her that everything would be fine if Zuko just failed now and kept on failing. Every instinct she had told her to just smile as he fell, everything told her Zuko _had_ to fail.

Everything except for her head, and _something_ in chest sending her a message that she could not really decipher, no matter how she looked at it, her head always came to the same conclusion: her instincts were wrong, and Zuko failing right now was in direct opposition to getting what she wanted.

It was in moments like this that Azula was thankful for her Father's lessons, without them, she might have been weak like Mother and Zuko and would have probably listened to her dumb feelings instead of thinking about it logically. Azula knew exactly what she needed to do to get her way, what _Zuko_ had to do to avoid failing.

Sure, it was an ungraceful move devoid of any dignity to counter a situation a prince should never be in to begin with but it was an objectively good fire bending move and its demonstration would only put Zuko's judgment and dignity as a prince into question, two things Father had long since given up on when it came to her brother and were unimportant as he was judged on his fire bending today.

Azula wanted something and since the world was not going to go her way if she did nothing, she made her decision and spoke...

(X)

"I can't believe all this was just a set up to show off your stupid move, Dum-dum." Azula's voice echoed in Zuko's ears.

He immediately knew exactly what his Lala was talking about, he had improvised that move after one of their old tutors had started focusing his training on balance, leading to a lot of failed exercises that had ended with him falling on his back, and further falls courtesy of Lala who had found the situation hilarious, and had taken every opportunity to 'assist' with his training.

Which had given Zuko a lot of experience when it came to avoiding falls and getting up in combat situations, to the point that he had even developed his own move in which he could simultaneously attack as he got to his feet, he was very proud of it ...until he actually showed it off and got a lecture about how it was an inappropriate move for a prince as he should never allow himself to fall in battle, despite said move having easily knocked down the tutor who had lectured him.

Inappropriate or not, it was currently his only chance of getting out of this situation with any hope of Father ever training him again, so he had to use it. In one moment, his back had touched the ground, with the next, he was using the momentum of the fall to roll a bit and support himself on his hands before swinging his legs in a circle, with his flames following his movements all the while and using the momentum to rise back with a flaming knee kick.

It was done, he had escaped the worst thanks to his adorable sister, even if he was a bit wobbly on his legs, he just needed a decent finale, a few more traditional katas that he could do easily were more than enough. Sure, he had to switch a few of the usual moves since his starting position would make doing any of them in the proper order very hard, and getting them in order was not really a part of a demonstration of skill anyway. It was not as if he was being tested on any particular form.

Now all that was left was bowing in his father's direction and to wait for his verdict. Said verdict came much quicker than Zuko expected.

"You may rise, Zuko." Ozai spoke quickly, his tone was surprisingly indifferent. "Azula, go and take your position, it is your turn."

As they exchanged positions, Zuko gave Azula a quick smile before settling down near to where she had just been, next to their Father. He was actually grateful that he was a bit too physically and emotionally exhausted to really pay attention to what he was sure was Azula blowing his demonstration out of the water.

While he felt his performance had gone on for hours, Azula's turn was finished in a matter of minutes but even then he could not resist admiring his sister's flames as she snuffed them out to bow toward their father as he had done a few moments prior.

"You may rise, Azula." Ozai repeated his previous instructions, using just as indifferent a tone as before while Azula rose and came to stand next to Zuko. "Both of your demonstrations were satisfactory, but I can already tell that your last tutor definitely deserved his relocation. As for you Azula, I will have a word with Li and Lo for a more permanent arrangement, since those hours spent with the more traditional tutors clearly could have been replaced with self study, and your brother might benefit from sharing a few of their lessons..."

Zuko held his breath, as did Azula if he heard correctly as he listened to his Father. He had never trained with Li and Lo before, he did not even know why, it was not as if the twins ever were particularly disdainful toward him or had more respect for his sister, those two pretty much always treated him and Azula the same.

It may have been a good sign, but it did not mean that he was saved. He knew that the only thing that would truly determinate if his performance had been up to par or not: If he would be allowed to participate in the next training session led by their Father. He had barely finished that thought when his father finally gave them the answer he was waiting for.

"You may go do your cool down exercises now, and I will have you both informed the next time that I am ready to personally supervise your training." The finality in Ozai's tone which normally set Zuko off on a bout of depression had felt as though the world had been lifted from his shoulders! Already turning to leave, their father left them with one last command. "The rest of the day is yours to do as you please."

''Thank you, Father." Zuko and Azula spoke in unison, giving a quick bow before running off toward the training ground that was dedicated to post training cool down exercises, it was even near the training ground's bathing facilities.

As soon as they were out of sight, Zuko could not contain himself anymore and grabbed his sister in a tight hug, he had expected her to go rigid or light his clothes on fire but instead, she immediately melted into it and he could feel her smile against him, as if she had been expecting it.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Zuko excitedly exclaimed, not letting go of his sister. "I don't know how or why you did it but thanks."

"Obviously, you have no idea, that's why I'm me and you're just Zuzu." Lala's smug response was expected, and for once, Zuko would admit it was deserved. "But I suppose you deserve some credit too, who knew such a specific and foolish move could actually save you?"

'We both know I would have never thought of it if not for you' continued Zuko, for once noticing she was fishing for compliment and more than happy to indulge her today 'I would have just hit the ground like a clumsy Earthbender and sulked in a corner'

"Sure, you needed my directions but who doesn't really?" countered Azula, clearly enjoying this even if Zuko didn't really get the point 'You're still the one who actually did it after all'

"I ...I honestly would have probably given up then if it wasn't for you." Zuko sputtered, having run out of compliments and deciding he could bear with a bit of embarrassment after such a good day "When I was still doing well, I looked at you and Father and, well, I kind of felt like it was pointless to even try. But then I saw how you were looking at me fire bending and you looked so happy, I told myself it was worth continuing if even just for that. I still messed it up at the end anyway and you helped me out again so...Yeah, I do think you deserve all the credit this time, Lala."

By the time Zuko had finished speaking, he could feel himself losing to a very embarrassed blush, and from the little he could see of his sister's face, she was beet red. At least he thought it was beet red because the next thing he knew, Azula had pushed him and he was on the ground.

"That is very nice of you to say, Dum-Dum, but you stink so let's cool down..." Azula spoke quickly, wrinkling her nose in mock disgust. "And put your big realization that I'm always right on hold until we're finished with that and more importantly, cleaned up."

She did not even wait for him to get to his feet before starting to walk and Zuko still wondered if he had hallucinated her blush if it was not for the fact that he could clearly see her reddened ears from where he was sitting.

"Agni, Lala..." Zuko whined out loud as he got to his feet. "That's the third time today I ended up on the ground!"

The only response he recieved was a small giggle, not that he was complaining, three giggles in a row was truly noteworthy, he was really on a roll today. Or maybe it was just a good day.

(X)

Ozai was having a strange day, first he get news of his brother and rather than some rebellion in his name or a challenge to an Agni Kai, it was about some kind of quest to bring back Lu Ten or something like that. Having definite proof that his brother had lost his mind after the death of his son lifted a weight Ozai had not even known existed.

Then he called his children to a meeting and not only did the guard come back after visiting only one bedchamber, but both of them showed up at the same time, and Azula did not seem to be paying any attention, while every guard in the room looked at Zuko with admiration of all things. Ozai had no idea what any of it implied, nor did he care, but it definitely counted as 'strange'.

Finally, his overly sentimental and weak son, started a very complex kata only to fail it apparently on purpose, just to demonstrate a strange, but definitely lethal move, and Azula had apparently either seen through it faster than Ozai, or perhaps ordered Zuko to demonstrate said move...he was not certain if Azula was really calling out Zuko or just disguising her command, both of which had implications he did not really like.

It was a strange day, yes, and yet clearly, this strange news was a net positive. If Zuko had a killing instinct, or at least was making moves without considering their lethality and effect then, that was even better. If Iroh had really turned into a loon, it was a boon, and if Azula either had her brother well trained enough to give him commands that he can respond to in seconds, or was capable of seeing through things even more clearly than Ozai himself, all the better again.

One less threat to worry about, a tool even better than he had thought, and a tool he had discarded being discovered to actually have a use. Truly, the strange was on his side lately.

Zuko might even turn out to be a decent enforcer one day, going by what he saw today. Ozai had long dismissed Piandao's praise about his son's stealth and skill with swords, hiding in the shadows and wielding weapons was below what was expected of a crown prince of the fire nation after all, so all it amounted to was Zuko being good at something useless yet again.

But now that he had given up on his son as a prince, and Zuko had seemingly started deferring to Azula, his preferred heir, that very same embarrassment could make him an extremely useful enforcer of the firelord's will, especially if Zuko had the killer instinct his technique suggested.

Unforeseen, Unforgiving, and Deadly, Ozai truly liked the idea of giving birth to such an enforcer.

He also had confirmed that whatever his children were doing did not seem to weaken Azula, or make her any less useful or loyal, and even made Zuko worth something. He was still not exactly certain which one led the other, but Azula seemed to be in charge, even if Zuko showing off was indeed his own initiative and not an order.

The only problem now would be Li and Lo, convincing them to take a more definitive role as Azula's advisors in fire bending would certainly take some effort, but that was not really the problem. The two non-benders loved their peace and quiet, two things the capital was definitely not, but the palace was a pretty quiet place now that he cleaned out the riffraff.

No, the only problem would be to let Zuko attend their lessons as a test, for some reason his former wife had always been against them training Zuko, but he never understood her problem. On the other hand, for all their talents and experience as fire bending instructors, made all the more impressive by their own non-bender status, they had weird ideas and beliefs about pairs and siblings when it related to firebending. No doubt their beliefs were owed to their status as twins. He had no doubt they would even make Zuko a worthwhile firebender, but they would also make his son and daughter dependent on each other ...in battle at the very least.

Needless to say, it was nothing but folly in Ozai's mind, his son and daughter were better off as they were, as useless as Zuko currently is, rather than being trained with such dependence upon each other, that was the worst weakness he could imagine.

Thus far, he had managed to get the best of both worlds, since he had all but discarded anything beyond the traditional tutors for Zuko and simply dismissed Li and Lo's demands to train his son as unnecessary, but now... Ozai was starting to feel that he was not using Zuko to the best of his ability, and the best way to confirm that would be to let Li and Lo have their way with him while having a way to pull Zuko back if he proved unworthy again, or if he noticed Li and Lo's nonsense seeping in too deeply and weakening his children without also losing Li and Lo's training for Azula.

A little voice told him that he was the firelord, and thus it did not matter, worst case scenario, he could throw Zuko back to mediocrity, and simply order the twins to cease their nonsense and train Azula correctly. While his years as a scheming prince told him it was folly, he would just be alienating two very revered figures of his father's reign while tasking them with molding his favored child. ...He found himself agreeing with the voice.

With his mind made up, Ozai decided Zuko would simply join them for a few lessons, and if he saw no adverse effects on Azula's capacity and Zuko does not disappoint him again, he will simply let Li and Lo do as they wish ...and frankly if Azula was foolish enough to fall for their drivel, Ozai did not need her either, she could easily find herself in the same pile of mediocrity as her brother.

(X)

Iroh was a changed man, at least according to most of those who heard the news about his son and travel to the spirit world. Well, if you actually asked any of them, they would use the word 'broken' instead of changed, but Iroh would not begrudge them for that. He had indeed been broken for a long time, but he had finally started piecing himself back together.

Yes, being broken was behind him, far behind him, and it was now the time to look forward. He had more than enough introspective discussions with that spirit under a giant tree stump. The spirit was a real gentleman and a good host, no doubt about that, but was sadly obsessed with the past, useful for reflection, but it become kind of unhealthy once the time came to move forward.

But Iroh guessed that was the point, each of the spirits he had met were the perfect companions for the particular phase he had met them in, but ultimately needed to be left in the past.

Now, Iroh was finally ready to progress and look forward, which ironically enough, will led him back to a place he left a long time ago: The palace of the fire nation, the very same place he had been born, and the same place his own son, Lu Ten, took his first breath.

Iroh was marching home.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it for this chapter, I hope it was an enjoyable read and if you have any advice, feedback or suggestion (or even just something you'd like to see in future chapters), feel free to leave a comment and you can be sure I'll read it.
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr under the name 'Dragomer', don't hesitate to come say hi, share your idea or ask whatever question you have about the story (or anything really).


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